What's your favourite regeneration scene? Here's mine, gotta to love that line about the kidneys.
What is your favourite regeneration scene?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
Third, Ffifth, Eight, Ninth and Eleventh. And I like Sixie's exit on The Brink of Death, too.
Though Tennant's acting in his regeneration and the score behind it, et al is amazing.
Though Tennant's acting in his regeneration and the score behind it, et al is amazing.
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I think Matt absolutely owned the role as soon as that mop of hair and chin appeared onscreen, so I have to go with him.
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4-5, 5-6, 11-12, 12-13.
Nine to Ten - more because I didn't know it was happening. I don't know if the BBC announced Tennant coming in or not, but I didn't hear a thing. I was in the middle of the story, didn't know it was coming, and it was a surprise. What a moment! None of this announcing a new Doctor a year beforehand.
The First Doctor into the Second. Straightforward and no preamble. Imagine how shocking it was as a kid to see the Doctor grow weaker and then fall--and not know what was going to happen next. The show would be changed forever...
For me it's a tie with 10-11, and 11-12.
With 10 there was this sense of dread right up to when the regeneration started, and then 11 came and we (and the Doctor) realized everything was going to be okay.
With 11, he spends his final minutes telling Clara (and us) everything will be okay, and that he's still the Doctor. Then we get a literal bang and Capaldi enters the picture, and we're left not quite knowing if things with this older, less friendly Doctor will actually be okay.
With 10 there was this sense of dread right up to when the regeneration started, and then 11 came and we (and the Doctor) realized everything was going to be okay.
With 11, he spends his final minutes telling Clara (and us) everything will be okay, and that he's still the Doctor. Then we get a literal bang and Capaldi enters the picture, and we're left not quite knowing if things with this older, less friendly Doctor will actually be okay.
To this day…that slow dissolve looks the best.
But 4-to-5 is the oddest…a whole separate body…there is a whole story behind that one…the moment having been prepared for indeed!
4th Doctor is an oddity, the watcher thing has never happened before or after on the TV show, not sure about other media.
1. Introduction of the third doctor, as there was no formal transition--he's just falls out of the Tardis and is not really revealed until a bit later, adding to the mystery of what happened to him.
2. Transition from the 3rd to the 4th--Pertwee was the greatest of all Doctors, and the dread following his falling (again), barely having the energy to lift his hands, then "dying" was pitch perfect drama, leading the viewers to consider all that he was and what was going to be lost before the smooth transition to another total mystery man.
I remember an old pre-internet theory that the Fourth Doctor had stayed around too long and had unwittingly overlapped the Fifth Doctor's timeline. The Watcher was the unregenerated Fifth Doctor waiting for the described "prepared moment" to finally take over. When the Fourth Doctor eventually confronted the Watcher, it was akin to being told his time was running out...
Even though the scene is way too over the top and takes itself way too seriously, I'm going to say the Tennant to Smith regeneration in TEOT. Vale Decem is a nice tune.
In a couple of my 'Behind the Scenes' books I have on Doctor Who, they say the reason there was such a close-up on the First and Second Doctor's face is because the producers hadn't decided on what his hair should be like.
Initially, Patrick Troughton was going to wear a Harpo style curly wig before that was discarded right before filming and Anneke Wills gave Troughton her comb and thus the 'Beatle' mop top was created.
Also, I've always been partial on Fifth to Sixth. In fact, the whole serial showcases some of Peter Davison's best acting as the Doctor.
4 to 5 (Logopolis)
5 to 6 (Caves of Androzani)
10 to 11 (The End of Time Part 2)
5 to 6 (Caves of Androzani)
10 to 11 (The End of Time Part 2)
And what became of Peri?
Wasn't her last on screen appearance a bit of a cliff hanger?
Wasn't her last on screen appearance a bit of a cliff hanger?
I guess we're talking about events leading up to the regeneration, rather than the few seconds of the actual regeneration.
I'd say I have four favourites
5-6 showcases Davison at his best, the Doctor goes through hell to save the life of a single individual who he doesn't even know that well. He isn't saving the universe. More regenerations should be like this. Shame about the "change my dear..." line which seems a trifle too dismissive of his former self. (I appreciate another reading is that Six is actually saying "that was a close one.")
10-11 It's a tough one because on the one hand it's mawkish as hell yet somehow they make it work. As @The Wormhole says the music is spot on, and I actually like the little interaction between Ten and Rose. Plus Matt's brilliant from the off. "Geronimo!!!"
8 - War For once the Doctor chooses who to be next, or at least what kind of Doctor to be (or not to be). Given all we have on Eight on screen before this is the TVM it works so well. Moffat's scrip allied to McGann's performance (and kudos to Clare Higgins and Emma Campbell-Jones as well) And Moffat slips in a "Man or woman" into the bargain, laying the groundwork. A fantastic six minutes.
11-12 The antithesis of "I don't want to go." Instead Eleven is melancholy but accepting of his fate, and the "we all change" speech is lovely. Plus the arrival of Amy always makes me well up, as does Matt's delivery of "I will always remember when the Doctor was me." On the other side of the regeneration Capaldi's kidney line and Clara's reaction to it are hilarious. I also love the "Do you know how to fly this thing?"
Special mentions:
Jacobi to Simm is interesting, and while I know many really don't like Let's Kill Hitler, the Mels to River regeneration is fun, if only for Alex camping it up no end post regeneration "I'm going to wear lots of jumpers!"
I'd say I have four favourites
5-6 showcases Davison at his best, the Doctor goes through hell to save the life of a single individual who he doesn't even know that well. He isn't saving the universe. More regenerations should be like this. Shame about the "change my dear..." line which seems a trifle too dismissive of his former self. (I appreciate another reading is that Six is actually saying "that was a close one.")
10-11 It's a tough one because on the one hand it's mawkish as hell yet somehow they make it work. As @The Wormhole says the music is spot on, and I actually like the little interaction between Ten and Rose. Plus Matt's brilliant from the off. "Geronimo!!!"
8 - War For once the Doctor chooses who to be next, or at least what kind of Doctor to be (or not to be). Given all we have on Eight on screen before this is the TVM it works so well. Moffat's scrip allied to McGann's performance (and kudos to Clare Higgins and Emma Campbell-Jones as well) And Moffat slips in a "Man or woman" into the bargain, laying the groundwork. A fantastic six minutes.
11-12 The antithesis of "I don't want to go." Instead Eleven is melancholy but accepting of his fate, and the "we all change" speech is lovely. Plus the arrival of Amy always makes me well up, as does Matt's delivery of "I will always remember when the Doctor was me." On the other side of the regeneration Capaldi's kidney line and Clara's reaction to it are hilarious. I also love the "Do you know how to fly this thing?"
Special mentions:
Jacobi to Simm is interesting, and while I know many really don't like Let's Kill Hitler, the Mels to River regeneration is fun, if only for Alex camping it up no end post regeneration "I'm going to wear lots of jumpers!"
